Ten years on and nowhere to go is what sums up the biggest foreign direct investment prospect in India- POSCO. On June 22, 2005, POSCO - the steel major from South Korea had signed the MoU with the government of Odisha. Last 22nd it completed nine years of signing the MoU and has entered tenth year.

But, in all these years
the progress on the ground has been a little at best, being more
generous. Till date it neither has demanded land, iron ore reserve,
water or even the permission of captive port facility. Even the MoU
that it has signed with the state government has expired since long.
To the contrary the groups of people opposing the project on
different front are now organized and networked.

In
Focus

What has been achieved by
all these administrative support and political and corporate
machinations? It has by now got the environmental clearance for 4MTPA
plant as against 12 MTPA that it had applied for. POSCO needs 2750
acres of land for the first phase of the project (that will take care
of 8 MTPA production) Odisha Industrial Corporation (IDCO) has
already handed over 1708 acres of land to POSCO, the insider story is
that the lease process is not yet complete.

However, the official
position is that the district administration has already handed over
2750 acres of land to IDCO that included 2193 acres of forest land
and 558 acres of private land. Lease process for 2193 acres of forest
land already has been completed and the rest land will be transferred
after POSCO pays the cost of 2193 acres of land i.e. Rs 54.21 crores.

Though IDCO asked POSCO
to deposit the amount in the month of January it has not yet
deposited the money. So all is not well on the land acquisition
front, there is something that both PSOCO and the State Government
are hiding. On the other hand POSCO is yet to take possession
effectively. Much of the land acquired is now under the control of
the locals.

The beetle vines that the
administration took so much of pain to raze to the ground are again
being raised by their erstwhile owners. Pro-POSCO leader Jeebanlal
Behera says, "POSCO has no intention of acquiring the land for its
steel project as it is deliberately delaying the process and not
ready to take land directly from the locals."

After a long 10 years
wait the Odisha government has only managed to give prospecting
license of Khandadhar mines for the raw material. Those in the
knowing of the things say that it will take three years in the
minimum to convert this prospecting license to a lease. Till the PL
was awarded to POSCO by the Naveen, the battle was mostly fought on
the legal arena. But, now local people, mostly the Padudi Bhuiyans, a
particularly vulnerable tribal group, and other tribal communities
are up against POSCO.

And their resistance is
not based on perceptions or assumed damage to their environment, life
and livelihood. They have live projects in the form of OMC operated
iron ore mines in the catchments of Khandadhar and the impact of such
mining activities on the environment and lives and livelihoods of
these primitive Paudi tribes living here are too obvious for the
tribals to be ignored.

The
clearance for the captive Port of POSCO has been postponed and to get
the clean and legal clearances for the captive port is very very
difficult because indirectly the government's undertaking Paradeep
Port officials and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dear Adani group
port of Paradeep (recently controversial TATA's Dhamara port transfer
to Adani) authorities will oppose it for business
benefits.

While
there are uncertainties galore for POSCO for getting iron ore for its
operations, it is not going to be less difficult for it to get water
for the plant. As taking water from Naraj barrange was opposed tooth
and nail by the citizens of Cuttack
and the farmers in the command area of Naraj, as a changed plan the
state has declared that POSCO will take water from Hansua river,
which is primarily a drainage 90 kms long that also carters to the
irrigation needs of the farmers. Now the resistance to the efforts of
providing water to POSCO from Hansua also has started crystallizing.
Leaders of different political parties have started opposing this
move. An outfit in the name of Hansua Bachao Sangram Samiti is in the
forefront of this resistance.

This resistance to the
efforts of POSCO to draw water from Hansua has all the potential to
snow ball into a huge farmer's resistance. HBSS has on 21 June 2014
staged dharna in front of Jagatsinghpur Collectorate resisting the
move and has submitted a memorandum to the governor of Odisha through
the District Collector. Convener of HBSS has said, "the farmers
will intensify their agitation if the government does not roll back
the it's decision."

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram
Samittee also has started interacting with these groups. Convener of
HansuaBachao Sangram Samiti

Resistance or no
resistance, POSCO is certain to face a major hurdle on the water
front. The huge quantity of water that POSCO needs cannot be sourced
from Hansua (if the use of Hansua river goes beyond construction
phase) There will be severe crunch in the summer months, as Hansua is
not a perennial flow, that even POSCO knows and has mentioned in its
web-site. POSCO will draw water for its township from Mahanadi.

"The
state government and POSCO are tight lipped about sourcing water for
the plant operations. That is because it will lead to massive
protests and legal battles. But resistance apart, Naraj barrage does
not have enough water to meet the requirements of POSCO as already
substantial quantities of water has already been committed to
different industries in Paradeep like Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd, Paradeep Phosphastes limited, Paradeep Port
Trust and also the power plants around the barrage. But, technically speaking
the farmers in the command area of the delta irrigation project have
the first charge on the water of Naraj Barrage as per the water
policy of Odisha. So, policy wise water can be supplied to the
industrial units only after the existing command area has been
satiated. The moment government comes out with the notification, the
water staved tail enders will hit the streets. I do not see any hope
for POSCO getting water from the barrage at Cuttack," says Tapan
Padhi, a social activist who has been working on water related issues
since last two decades.

While
POSCO has failed to make any substantive progress in assuring land,
water and iron ore for the steel plant in all these nine years, the
resistance to the project has consolidated itself. Even the 52 POSCO
supporters who had left their village Dhinkia alleging harassment by
the anti-Posco activists have now (till date 42 families) have come
back to their village after 78 long years of wait for a 'reward'
and living happily. That sends a strong message to the outside world
that POSCO does not care for its supporters. And now the erstwhile
supporters of the project and the anti-POSCO PPSS have come closer
and their voices seem to be in sync with each other on many
occasions.

In these nine years the
anti-POSCO movement has taken roots in other places like Khandadhar
and Cuttack and drainage area of Hansua. PPSS celebrated 22nd June as
a black day (being an anniversary of signing the MoU) where the
villagers from Dhinkia, Govindur, Gadakujanaga, Patana, Nuagaon etc
area joined and have taken the vow to 'stop POSCO at any cost.'

Gadakujanga,
Patna and Nuagaon
etc are the villages known as POSCO supporters, who have come out of
their illusion. So anti-POSCO forces have strengthened themselves and
in the process of consolidation now.

But, for POSCO it is 'Ten
years on and nowhere to go.'

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